Hosea 2

1 Say you to your brothers, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.

“On that day you will call your brothers Ammi, and you will call your sisters Ruhamah.

2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her prostitutions out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

Condemn your mother, condemn her because she is not my wife and I am not her husband. Tell her to stop looking like a prostitute—get rid of the makeup and the provocative clothing.

3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.

Otherwise I will strip her naked as the day she was born, and make her like a desert, a barren land, and let her die of thirst.

4 And I will not have mercy on her children; for they be the children of prostitutions.

I will have no pity on her children because they are children of prostitution.

5 For their mother has played the harlot: she that conceived them has done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.

For their mother was a prostitute who conceived them in a shameful way. She said, ‘I'll run after my lovers who give me my food and water, my wool and flax and olive oil, and my drink.’

6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

That is why I am going to block her path with thorn bushes, and build a stone wall to stop her so she won't find her way.

7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

When she runs after her lovers she won't catch up with them; she'll look for them but she won't find them. Then she'll say, ‘Let me go back to my former husband, because it was better for me then than now.’

8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.

She doesn't consider that it was me who gave her grain, new wine, and olive oil; the silver and the gold which I gave her abundantly that they made into an idol of Baal.

9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

So I will take back my ripened grain and my new wine I gave at harvest time. I will take back my wool and my flax I provided to cover her nakedness.

10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand.

I will strip her naked while her lovers watch; no one will be able to rescue her from me.

11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

I will put a stop to all her festivities: her feasts, new moon celebrations, special Sabbaths—all her festivals.

12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she has said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

I will destroy her vines and fig trees that she said were given to her as payment for being a prostitute. I will turn them into scrub-land; only wild animals will eat the remaining fruit.

13 And I will visit on her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the LORD.

I will punish her for all the times she offered incense to Baal, dressing herself up, putting on rings and jewelry, going after her lovers, but forgetting about me, declares the Lord.

14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her.

See what I'm going to do! I will win her back, taking her into the desert where I will speak to her heart-to-heart.

15 And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

There I will return her vineyards to her and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond to me as she did when she was young, as in the time when she left the land of Egypt.

16 And it shall be at that day, says the LORD, that you shall call me Ishi; and shall call me no more Baali.

Then on that day, says the Lord, you will call me ‘my husband’ and not ‘my Baal.’

17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.

I will stop her appealing to the Baals—their names won't be mentioned ever again.

18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.

At that time I will make a solemn agreement with the wild animals and the birds of the sky and the creeping things of the ground. I will do away with the bow and the sword; I will abolish war from the land so you can lie down in safety.

19 And I will betroth you to me for ever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies.

I will make you my wife forever; I will make you my wife in goodness and justice and love and mercy.

20 I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness: and you shall know the LORD.

I will be faithful to you, my wife, and you will know me as the Lord.

21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, says the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;

On that day, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens and they will answer the earth.

22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.

The earth will answer the grain, and the new wine, and the olive oil, and they shall answer, ‘Jezreel’ (God sows).

23 And I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, You are my people; and they shall say, You are my God.

I will ‘sow’ her for myself in the earth. I will love Lo-ruhamah (unloved) and I will say ‘you are my people’ to Lo-ammi (not my people), and they will say ‘You are my God.’”